People often say I’m too critical when I give career advice. I believe that “too critical” is just another way of saying you don’t really want to know the truth. Part of the problem today is too much false positive reinforcement. Look. I know how hard it can be to be to listen to criticism or negative feedback or whatever you want to call it. It’s much easier to get up every day, get dressed, go to work, do everything just the way you’ve been doing it. But every day you avoid taking a hard look in the mirror you make yourself more vulnerable to losing your job—for all the reasons people lose their jobs, from mass layoffs to corporate reorganizations to interoffice politics to just plain not doing good enough work.
None of these are reasons you should lose your job. To avoid that outcome, however, you have to get real. You have to level with yourself about how serious you are about keeping your job, how well you actually do your job, and how good your chemistry is with your boss. If you can’t get real….if you can’t be brutally honest with yourself about your own job security….you will lose your job. The fact is, someone always loses his job and if you’re weak, uncommitted, and unrealistic it will be you who gets the ax. So if you know that taking a square, honest look in the mirror and doing something smart about what you see will save your job, why wouldn’t you do that right now?
Repeat after me: My job is my most important asset and protecting my job is my number one priority. Now say it again and mean it. Make today the start of all the important changes—small and large—that you’re going to make in order to protect your job.
stephenviscusi